The Fiery Cross
Diana Gabaldon
Dell (2005)
Mass Market Paperback, 1456 pages
Rated 4 stars of 5 possible
The Fiery Cross is Diana Gabaldon's fifth entry in her best selling Outlander series. While it isn't the best novel in the series, it is still well worth reading. The Fiery Cross covers the lives of Jamie and Claire, their family and friends from October of 1770 to about October of 1772. Claire's certain knowledge of the coming revolutionary war is a beacon to light their way through the perilous future. As with earlier Outlander series books, the characters continue to be flawed and very human. To me, that's not a criticism, but high praise. The more human the characters seem to be, the more easily I can get hooked on their story.
Some of the events concerning Brianna's husband Roger do push the suspension of disbelief a bit beyond the limits, but those scenes add some dramatic impact that would not be possible otherwise. I got through reading those parts by thinking "this is remotely possible..." as some of the events were very extreme, and yes, even a bit over the top. However you need to do it, get past those scenes and continue reading; there's some really good stuff coming up in this and the next book.
As with the earlier sequels, this is not the place to get started reading the Outlander series. I recommed reading the series in order, starting with the first book and working your way forward. My reviews of previous volumes in this series are linked below for your convenience.
Book 1: Outlander
Book 2: Dragonfly in Amber
Book 3: Voyager
Book 4: Drums of Autumn
This review has been simultaneously posted on Dragon Views, LibraryThing and Amazon.com.
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